Residents of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, on Wednesday said normalcy has returned after the government announced a ceasefire.
Although there was no immediate statement from authorities on how many people had been killed.
Clashes broke out late on Monday after the killing of a major militia leader. After calming on Tuesday morning, the fighting reignited overnight, with major battles rocking districts across the entire city.
“Regular forces, in coordination with the relevant security authorities, have begun taking the necessary measures to ensure calm, including the deployment of neutral units,” the defence ministry said.
The ministry said the neutral units it was deploying around sensitive sites were from the police force, which does not carry heavy weapons.
After the fighting, burned-out cars littered the streets in some areas, and nearby buildings were pocked with bullet marks.
Monday’s clashes had appeared to consolidate the power of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, prime minister of the divided country’s Government of National Unity (GNU) and an ally of Turkey.
However, any prolonged fighting within Tripoli risks drawing in factions from outside the capital, potentially leading to a wider escalation between Libya’s many armed players after years of relative calm.
The main fighting on Wednesday was between the Dbeibah-aligned 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), the last major armed Tripoli faction not currently in his camp, the English-language Libyan Observer reported.
Fighting also erupted in western areas of Tripoli that have historically been a gateway for armed factions from Zawiya, a town to the west of the capital.
Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups.
That announcement followed Monday’s killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilisation Support Apparatus (SSA) group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.
The seizure of SSA territory in Libya by the Dbeibah-allied factions, the 444 and 111 Brigades, indicated a major concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving Rada as the last big faction not closely tied to the prime minister.
